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Friday, 17 May 2013

Our Government NEEDS us...

...it is a victim of abuse and WE must come to the rescue

Currently, daily and for the longest time - bullies, liars
and thieves have sent sharp-suited, slick-talking Lobbyists into the place
where our laws are made. These Lobbyists buy, cheat, manipulate, blackmail and
bribe their agenda in – masquerading as democracy.

THIS isn’t democracy – our democratic SYSTEM of government has
been beaten out of shape - to serve the powerful, the wealthy and the greedy;
it is now so broken and so ugly that only the worst, can function within it.

Those lower-down the heirachy who claim to represent us are mere mouthpieces,
part of the charade; feeble MPs, too weak, too threatened, too ambitious or too
corrupted to do the job we trusted them with. They are NOT speaking out about the abuse and
are therefore facilitating it with their compliance. Gutless and worse than
ineffective; they serve as the phoney face of this fiction.

The system though is JUST a structure - NOT an ideology, NOT
set in stone and NOT (yet) out of reach. It just requires fixing or redesigning
so that it reflects the honesty, fairness and justice we should be demanding of
OUR democratic system of government.

WE are the many and the bad are the few

Up until the internet came along, those holding office and wielding power had the loudest voices through
control of media; now though, we connect, we broadcast, we get informed and are buoyed by the
realisation that so very many share our discoveries and dismay...as well as our hopes.

I often hear: “You know there’s nothing you can do to change
it don’t you?”
THIS is the saddest thing because it reflects complete submission
to a system we KNOW to be lying to us; an acceptance that the abuse can
continue and that we WILL be passing this on to the next generation.

I also (more and more frequently) hear: “You know all we
need is for the others to join us – then we CAN change this.”
THIS is the
source of my optimism and certainty that our individual humanity (when combined) is the home
of the solution.

It IS time for each of us to be the honourable people we are at our core – time
to get a whole lot louder and the only way to do that is to become an *activist.
(*Activist = someone who acts on their concerns).

You can be the activist YOU choose to be... alone, in secret, in public, with others or at a mass demonstration. Recently I have
seen noble individuals, standing alone with simple signs in simple acts of
protest at appropriate locations; I have seen little knitted droplets shaped to represent
water, hanging from trees in a town threatened by big energy; I have camped in the mud with 300 others because it was worth it for the opportunity to share
plans, resources, humour and determination; I have been amongst a mass of Anonymous-masked others taking to the streets because they ARE our streets and I have sat in
deep conversation with a ‘Knitting Nanna’ from Australia who travelled across
the world to help inspire and charge those facing a shared fight with a hugely
powerful industry.

Deciding to do something about the wrongs you see is an individual
choice

~ but a universal obligation

Remember that scene in that movie where the angry newsman
finally loses his ability to put up with the masquerade any longer and screams: “I’m
mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it!” I had this surge within me in October2011 – my own, personal ‘enough-is-bloody-enough’ moment brought on by bailouts
and cutbacks that were so absurd - I felt it a huge insult to ask us to swallow
it.

Because our government isn’t OURS, it can watch the suffering of those facing
ATOS assessments that de-humanise them beyond comprehension – all under the guise
of weeding out the tiny, tiny fraction that are not legit; it can steal away OUR NHS that we and our parents and their parents paid for dutifully, imagining
it would be our legacy, that the taxes and NI contributions might ensure it; it
can turn a blind eye to the desperate needs within our communities for
investment in the things that matter like respectful, dignified care for our
elders, a more generous teacher-to-pupil ratio for our young and a way of
meeting our energy needs that doesn’t sacrifice our health and well-being.

Sunday, 5 May 2013

Every generation was in evidence at the event in Trafalgar
Square, individuals as well as groups including Anonymous; People's Unity; those fighting to
survive on newly slashed disability benefits; mothers calling, imploring and
pleading for the return of their children who are in the 'care' system; those
hit by cruel cuts to benefits or additions to cost like the bedroom tax; lots
of gorgeous faces I know from the tents at the steps of St Paul's during Occupythe London Stock Exchange; environmental activists, tax justice activists’
defenders of the NHS and those who, through social media like Facebook and
Twitter... came to find their own way to share a desire for change to the way
we are governed. We were not masses... but we were representative and numerous.

Everyone was there for a reason and each of us must have
been questioning if we truly live in a democracy; as the female police officer
stopped me and held me in place, it confirmed what I already surmised - THIS is
NOT what democracy looks like. She had no cause and no right to stop me or anyone
else on this perfectly peaceful walk from Trafalgar Square to Parliament and
back; NO weapons, NO threats, NO militant groups- just people who can't get
themselves heard in any other way.

Since 15 October 2011 I have been to quite a few events
(demonstrations/protests etc don't really describe these gatherings)... and on
EVERY one, it has been the same sense of 'them & us' with the London police.
THEY come looking for trouble and end up ensuring it by their behaviour towards
us.

Where is MY police protection? Why aren't THEY looking to
facilitate my RIGHT to protest ...and ensuring aggressive behaviour is
minimised by contributing to the atmosphere with co-operative, polite,
respectful actions? I and those I had the honour to walk beside on 4th May 2013
in London... are NOT criminals and do NOT deserve to be treated as if we are.

Here is an insight into the lunacy of this common method of
policing our democratic right to protest... I asked the police woman who was
stopping my progress, why she was and she said: "you have to stay
here" - I replied that I didn't want to and would like to carry on walking
...and then asked if there was a specific law or reason to stop me. She said
she was stopping me under 'section 3' - I HAD to ask what this meant
as she didn't say any more (must have assumed I was
well-aquatinted with this sort of legal definition). She said it was because
there was:

"...the possibility I might be going to commit a crime"

Let me just mention at this point that aside from being a
five-foot grandma without a weapon... I was wearing a big pink sheet and a
smile. There was no logic to her behaviour and her attitude was rude,
dictatorial and aggressive - mine was polite, friendly and peaceable.
Thankfully those of us there sort of propelled forward so that it wasn't just me
breaking the police line that was attempting to kettle us ...more of a gentle
yet sufficient surge.

The kettling attempts by the police kept happening over and
over in the few hours from gathering and walking, to disbursing - YET there
wasn't a single incident that called for kettling. My sister (also wearing a
pink sheet and lovely smile) suggested to a young officer that it would make
more sense to just let us get on as we would eventually finish walking, carrying signs, expressing our concerns and generally trying to make our demands of OUR democracy. He actually looked somewhat sympathetic for a moment.
We understand that the police will be about at events ...but there was NO need
at all, at ANY stage to kettle.

When they kept stopping us, surrounding us, herding us,
rushing vehicles and manpower upon us... they made us angry, they made us
certain and they made us more determined than ever to fight for our lost rights
in this misshapen democracy.